Abigail Claire Tilton on modern day slavery in the United States. Slavery is not only a part of our past, it's a part of our present too.

1. HUMAN
TRAFFICKING
IN THE UNITED
STATES
Abigail Claire Tilton

2. In the United States,
human slavery is often
regarded as something
from our past.
Unfortunately, slavery
in the U.S. is still
thriving.

3. Thesecretivenatureofmodernslaverymakesitdifficultto
knowexactlyhowmanyarelivinginslaveryintheU.S.,
butitisestimatedthatthenumberisinthehundredsof
thousands.
Humantraffickingworldwideisestimated
tobea$150billionindustry.

4. Thetermsmodernslavery,humantrafficking,and“traffickingin
persons”areallusedtorefertomodern-dayslavery.Modern
slaveryincludesvictimsofsextraffickingaswellasforcedlabor.
Traffickingdoesnotnecessarilyinvolvemovingpeoplefrom
oneplacetoanother.Somevictimsoftraffickingaremoved
fromoneplacetoanother,whileothersare“trafficked”inthe
placewheretheylive.Manyvictimsofhumantraffickinginthe
UnitedStatesareAmericansthemselves.

5. The United States was ranked as
one of the worst countries for
human trafficking in 2018. The
three states with the most cases
of human trafficking are
California, New York, and Texas.
Florida and Las Vegas, Nevada
are also problem areas. There
have been reports of trafficking
in all fifty states, however, so the
problem isn’t in one place but
everywhere.
W H E R E I S T H E
P R O B L E M ?

6. SO WHY IS IT THAT MANY OF
US CONSIDER SLAVERY TO BE
A THING OF THE PAST?
Thecrisisofmodernslaveryismassive,andyetthesubject
doesn’tgettheattentionitdeserves.
Noonewantstobelievethatthereareslaves,especiallychild
slaves,livingamongus.Ignoringthefacts,however,doesnot
helpanyone.

7. HOW CAN WE HELP?
Ifwearetomakeanypositivechangesregardinghuman
trafficking,wehavetoacceptthescopeoftheproblem.We
can’tignoreitandhopethatitgoesaway.Weshouldallalso
takethetimetorecognizethesignsoftrafficking.Youshould
alsocalltheNationalHumanTraffickingHotlinelineat1-888-
373-7888wheneveryoususpectthattraffickingisoccurring.

8. OTHER WAYS TO HELP
Otherwaysthatyoucanhelpinclude:
Volunteeringforanti-traffickingcharities
Beingaconscientiousconsumer(don’tbuyproductsthat
mayhavebeenmadebyslaves)
Writingtoleadersinthegovernmenttoletthemknow
thatthissubjectneedsourcollectiveattention.